Question about remission

During my last severe UC flare, I was on the entire arsenal of Colazal, Entocort, and 6MP. Having side effects of bruising and dark urine, the GI took me off the 6MP. As the symptoms of the UC subsided, I started having back and hip pain. Then it seemed to migrate to every fiber in my body. The family dr. prescribed Tramadol that did nothing for the pain. All this went on for a period of months until my GI prescribed a low maintenance dose (5mg) of Prednisone. Finally, some relief. I'm going to attempt another weaning as soon as I get some courage. Has anyone had this happen when going into remission? This is muscle and joint pain to a degree I had never experienced before. Even though it's a low dose, I don't want to stay on Prednisone forever.

No. When my UC symptoms improved, I was gradually weaned from Entocort. I still take 8 Colazal pills a day. May be the joint and muscle pain was kept at bay by the Entocort, I don't know.

Not yet. I started to wean down from the Prednisone today. If I can't do it without the pain returning as before, I'm going to make an appointment.

Hi, please check with a rheumy, for me it sound like a spondiloatropaty, they are common with UC.

I was having a lot of pain in my hands/wrists about a year ago. Was checked out by a rheumatologist, but came back negative for arthritis. Drove me crazy for a long while. Then I switched from Asacol to Lialda (I wanted to try to get pregnant and the Asacol coating is full of phthalates) and within 2-3 days of the switch all of my hand/wrist pain disappeared and has never come back. For some reason I seemed to react to the Asacol but not the Lialda even though they are both mesalamine (and as a bonus my colitis reacted better to the Lialda too!).

Just putting that out there as an alternative - sometimes switching up meds can be a good thing (of course there's always the risk that it could affect your colitis as well).

I hope you find some answers and some relief soon :(